If you're
concerned about an aquatic resource threat then contact CEDS at 410-654-3021
(call-text) or Help@ceds.org for an initial no-cost discussion of strategy options.

Housing projects, shopping centers, and other
forms of growth has impaired 2,000 miles of
Maryland waterways. New growth may affect another 20 miles annually.

Environmental Site Design (ESD) offers the
possibility of halting the decline and improving those 2,000 miles
of degraded waters. But this will only happen if both volunteer and
professional clean water advocates provide the oversight and public support
critical to making ESD work. To learn how you can help read on.

ESD is a comprehensive approach to planning development so we get more of
the benefits and fewer aquatic resource impacts. Through ESD project
planners:

identify those portions of a site where development can occur
with the least impact to wetlands, streams, forests, and other sensitive
resources;

consider alternatives for minimizing the area of rooftops, parking
lot, streets and other new impervious surfaces created on the site;

locate buildings and other impervious surfaces so they drain to
areas on the site suited to the use of highly-effective aquatic
resources protection practices; and

ensure that all impervious surfaces drain to one of 15 ESD practices which are
highly-effective in trapping pollutants, reducing downstream erosion,
and getting runoff into the soil to maintain dry-weather inflow for
nearby wetlands and streams.

A major difference between ESD and past approaches to stormwater
management is that runoff from both existing and new impervious surfaces
must be treated. For example, let's say a 20-acre site has an
existing block of stores on it which covers about five acres. A
proposal is made to build more stores and expand parking areas which will
add another five acres of impervious area.

In the past, treatment would only have been
required for the new five acres of impervious surfaces. But with ESD
runoff from all ten acres of existing and proposed rooftops, parking, and other
impervious surfaces must be treated if located within the limits of
disturbance.

The implications of this requirement are truly profound.

Over time
most existing developed areas will be modified in ways that will result in
treating runoff with ESD practices. In other words, treatment will eventually be
provided for most existing impervious areas. This treatment will allow recovery of downstream waters.

How quickly could this happen?

Well,
Philadelphia
has requirements similar to ESD.
Officials there believe as much as 59% of the existing impervious area may
be retrofitted with treatment practices as soon as 2035.

It is unclear if ESD in its present form can provide this tremendous
benefits. If the Limits of Disturbance are defined very narrowly then
little existing impervious area runoff will be treated with ESD practices.
However, defining limits more broadly may increase development costs.
If this is the case then we should explore ways that we can provide
incentives to maximize treatment.

The first step with both levels of review is to obtain the ESD Concept
Plan and Narrative as well as the site or subdivision plan from the local
planning-zoning staff or the local stormwater review officials:

If you answered yes to each of these questions, then chances are the
project is making good use of ESD. However, take a moment to look for
the following. A "yes" to any of these questions indicates that full
ESD compliance has not been fully achieved.

Do you see a note on the plans indicating forest
conservation has been waived or a "fee-in-lieu-of" will be paid?

Is there a note indicating the applicant has
requested a waiver to wetland or stream buffer requirements?

Will any proposed streets or other development
intrude upon wetland or stream buffers?

Do you see a note on the plans or any reference in
the narrative that end-of-pipe structural measures will be used?

Note that the preliminary review applies to most projects with the
exception of those considered Redevelopment. A redevelopment
project is one where more then 40% of a site is covered by existing
impervious surfaces. See Detailed Review
below for advice on evaluating ESD compliance on Redevelopment projects.

If you have any questions on the preliminary review then contact us at
Help@ceds.org or 410-654-3021.
Also, could you e-mail us the findings
from each preliminary review you conduct? We hope to compile a
statewide database consisting of reviews conducted by clean water advocates.

Detailed Review:
As the phrase implies, in this review the items noted
above are examined in much greater detail. The Detailed Review
addresses the following questions:

Have the soils most likely to cause pollution been protected from
the erosive effects of rainfall and runoff?

Have all opportunities been fully explored to maximize protection of
wetlands, streams, forests, and other sensitive resources?

Have all options for minimizing the extent of impervious areas
and the limits-of-disturbance been exhausted?

Have impervious areas been located to drain to areas on the site
suited to ESD practices?

If you have any questions on the detailed review then contact us at
Help@ceds.org or 410-654-3021.
Also, could you forward us a copy of your completed checklists? We hope to
use these checklists to compile a statewide database of reviews conducted by
clean water advocates.

If you feel project plans show full use has not been made of
Environmental Site Design, then we urge you to think in terms of
Equitable Solutions rather then litigation. An
Equitable Solution is one which resolves citizen concerns - in this case a
perceived ESD deficiency - while allowing the applicant to achieve their
goals. CEDS has found that the Equitable Solutions approach triples
the likelihood of resolving citizens concerns at a fraction of the cost of
hiring a lawyer to stop a project.

Here are the steps we suggest for winning greater use of ESD through
Equitable Solutions:

Contact the applicant and ask that they consider making greater use
of ESD.

If the applicant claims that ESD has been used to the maximum extent
practicable, then speak with the
local review
officials to verify that this is correct. If you would like
another opinion then please forward the plans and narrative to
CEDS.

If you are still dissatisfied with the extent to which ESD will be
used, then contact your Council representative or Commissioner.
Ask what incentives might be offered to the applicant to increase
the use of ESD.

If you remain dissatisfied then consider moving on to the more
aggressive aspects of the Equitable Solutions approach.

If you are seeking to protect a waterway or neighborhood from the impact of
a proposed development project, then CEDS would be delighted to take a
quick, no-cost look at project plans for compliance with ESD requirements.
We can also check for a number of other potential impacts, such as traffic,
school overcrowding, viewsheds, and other issues listed in the
CEDS Quality of Life
Impact Review Checklist or our 300-page book
How To Win Land Development
Issues.

CEDS often receives requests from nonprofit groups, development
companies, attorneys, and others for referrals to engineers who can prepare
Maryland Environmental Site Design plans. To satisfy these requests we
are compiling a directory of ESD Engineers. If you would like to be
listed in the directory then click the following text:
ESD Engineers Survey.

Contact CEDS
at 410-654-3021 or Help@ceds.org to
discuss the possibility of conducting an Environmental Site Design workshop
in your area. The workshop can be a two-hour evening introduction or
an all-day intensive training.